Background
The international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project aims to construct the world’s largest radio telescope – 50 times as sensitive as present instruments – by around 2017. A number of design concepts for the instrument are now in the pathfinder and demonstration phase and a selection of technology for the SKA will be made around 2010-2011. Regardless of which concepts are chosen, the scale of the project makes it certain that industry will be significantly involved in the development, manufacturing, construction, and operation of the instrument.
SKA Industry Interaction Basics
AThe international SKA project, and its associated national and regional consortia programs, welcomes interest from potential industry partners. In general terms any joint research and development is viewed as a shared-risk endeavour, with SKA consortia and industry each contributing to defined activities. In some countries industry is able to offset or recoup its contribution via government funding programs, defence contracts, or the tax system. The SKA has an agreed policy on intellectual property (IP) developed under its aegis. Broadly, industry partners exploit their own IP contributions in arenas outside the SKA project but innovations are available to the SKA project free of any licensing charge.
Advantages of Collaboration
Some benefits of joint R&D with the SKA community are:
• The opportunity to grow and hone the creative energies of the best professionals in an imaginative project whose aim is no less than to chart the history of the Universe;
• The ability to perfect leading-edge techniques and products in a very demanding application and to interact with highly technologically sophisticated users;
• The ability to generate and share information
with other R&D partners – both institutional and industrial
– in a benign and commercially non-threatening environment;
• The visibility flowing from association
with an innovative, high profile, international mega-science project;
and
• The potential for early involvement and
favourable positioning in a € 1.5 billion project spanning
a wide range of engineering and computing disciplines.
Stages in Collaboration
The SKA project plan contains a number of key dates, each of which is relevant to commercial entities interested in the project. A list of dates and potential opportunities around these times is set out in the table below.
| Year |
Milestone |
Notes |
| 2009 |
The two precursor (SKA demonstrator) sites issue contracts for early infrastructure deployment. |
Western Australia (ASKAP), and South Africa (MeerKAT). |
| 2009 |
Concept definition stage for various technical domains in SPDO design costing. |
Antennas, Signal Transport, Signal processing, Software and Computing. |
| 2010-11 |
Pathfinder and precursor groups develop and test new technologies. Precursors continue deployment. |
LOFAR, MWA, FAST, ATA, EVLA, eEVN, eMERLIN. |
| 2012 |
SPDO finalises baseline design and costed system.
Site recommendation by the SSEC. |
Partly based on input and experience from industry. |
| 2013-14 |
Detailed SKA design, production engineering & tooling. |
Tooling, prototype and fabrication opportunities. |
| 2015 |
Construction of on-site SKA demonstrator (Phase 1) |
Industry participation in infrastructure provision, and instrument design and construction. |
| 2015-16 |
Construction of SKA |
Maximum industry involvement at levels of final design, project management, and construction contracts and sub-contracts. |
| 2017 |
SKA Phase 1 operational |
Industry opportunities in commissioning, operations and
maintenance. |
| 2018 |
SKA Phase 1 complete |
Continuing operations and maintenance role for industry.
|
See
opportunities for industry links
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